The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) has opened an investigation into the derailment of a passenger train near Walton-on-Thames in Surrey on 4 March 2024.

The derailment occurred at about 05.40 on 4 March 2024 when a passenger train, travelling at around 85 mph on the Up Fast line from Woking to London Waterloo struck a piece of redundant rail.

The rail was lying on a railway access point on the approach to Walton-on-Thames station and was struck by the leading set of the train’s wheels, which caused the train to derail.

Fortunately, the train remained upright but continued for around 500 metres beyond the point of collision before coming to a stop after the driver applied the emergency brake.

No injuries were sustained as a result of the derailment, although both the train and several hundred metres of railway infrastructure were damaged.

During the previous weekend, engineering work had taken place in the area, and part of that work included the recovery of redundant rails.

The derailed train was the first one to use the Up Fast line after completion of the weekend’s engineering work.

The Investigation

The investigation by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch will initially seek to identify the sequence of events leading up to the accident, after which it will investigate:

• What procedures are in place to plan for the recovery of redundant rails, and how that recovery is managed.
• What arrangements are in place to make sure that following engineering work, railway lines are safe for their use by trains.
• What were the actions of those involved in the engineering work, and whether there was anything that may have influenced their actions.
• Was the work correctly managed, or were there any underlying management factors.

The Rail Accident Investigation Branch carries out its investigations independently of any other investigation that may be carried out by the railway industry or by the industry’s regulator, the Office of Rail and Road.

This is just one of several recent incidents that the Rail Accident Investigation Branch is investigating, including a train hitting fallen trees at 83mph and becoming derailed in Norfolk earlier this month and a track worker being hit by a road-rail vehicle in Northamptonshire in February.